Big firms back £7.85 living wage campaign

Tuesday 16 November 2010 11:48 BST

Bank of America, law firm Freshfields and cosmetics giant L'Oreal were today among the latest major employers to sign up to the London Living Wage.

They join more than 100 organisations already committed to paying the £7.85 an hour rate, which is more than £2 an hour higher than the national minimum wage. Their pledge increases pressure on David Cameron to follow suit across Whitehall; many government departments, along with councils and the NHS, have resisted bringing in the rate.

An extra 2,500 workers across the capital now benefit from the London Living Wage, introduced by Ken Livingstone and increased by Boris Johnson. Since its introduction in 2005 it has helped almost 9,000 workers, many of whom had been living in poverty with their families.

Others to sign up today are banks UBS, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch and law firms Allen & Overy and Slaughter and May.